A pensioner has pleaded guilty to causing the death last year of a schoolgirl by careless driving.
John Noble Lindsay (92), of Prince Andrew Way, Carrickfergus, was brought into Belfast Crown Court in a wheelchair for the hearing.
He originally faced one charge of causing the death of Scarlett Rossborough (8) by dangerous driving on High Street in Carrickfergus shortly on August 9 2023.
At the request of the prosecution, a second charge of causing her death by careless driving was added to the bill of indictment.
When the fresh charge was put to him, Mr Noble, pleaded guilty.
He pleaded not guilty to causing the schoolgirl’s death by dangerous driving.
Defence counsel Frank O’Donoghue KC said that by entering his plea, the defendant was not challenging the fact that his driving caused the death.
“The only issue is whether his driving is to be properly labelled in law as dangerous or careless,’’ Mr O’Donoghue told Belfast Recorder Judge Patricia Smyth.
“We have a report from a consultant geriatrician who comments and reports about pedal misapplication.
“Pedal misapplication is where an elderly person presses the accelerator rather than the brake thinking they are pressing the brake and in this case there are features of that.”
Setting the trial date for November 4, Judge Smyth formally disqualified Lindsay from driving.
Scarlett Rossborough was from Larne where she attended Linn PS.
She and other children are understood to have been out walking on a community centre’s summer scheme trip when the collision happened.